Sara Sharif was just 10 years old when she was tragically found dead in her home in the United Kingdom last year.
On Wednesday, her father and stepmother were found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey in London of her murder after a trial heard about the years of repeated torture and abuse that the child endured.
So what happened to Sara, and what will happen next?
Warning: This explainer contains details that may be distressing.
What happened to Sara Sharif?
Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, 43, a taxi driver, and stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, were this week convicted of murdering her on August 8, 2023 after abusing and torturing her for at least two years.
The court’s ruling came at the end of a jury trial that ran for 10 weeks in the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, also known as the Old Bailey, in London.
These are some of the key moments from before and during the trial:
August 10, 2023: Sara Sharif is found dead
Sara was found dead by police under a blanket in a bunk bed at her family home in Woking, a town in Surrey, about 36km (22 miles) southwest of London.
She lived there with her father, stepmother and uncle, Sharif’s brother Faisal Malik, 29, who was reported by British media to be a student at the University of Portsmouth who worked part-time at McDonald’s. Malik was found guilty of the lesser charge of “causing or allowing” Sara’s death.
The day before Sara’s body was discovered, Malik, Sharif and Batool, along with five of Sara’s siblings aged between one and 13 at the time, had flown on a British Airways flight to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.
One hour after the flight landed in Pakistan, Sharif telephoned the Surrey Police. The call lasted eight minutes and 34 seconds, a previous court hearing was told. During the call, Sharif told police he had “legally punished” his daughter. “It wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much,” he said.
Next to her body, the police found a handwritten note saying: “It’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating” and “It was not my intention to kill her, but I lost it.” The letter, addressed to whoever found it, concluded: “Maybe I will be back before you finish the postmortem.”
August 15, 2023: Sara’s postmortem is conducted
The postmortem report said it could not conclude the precise cause of Sara’s death, but had found signs of “multiple and extensive injuries, sustained over an extended period of time”, the Surrey Police said.
In October, Dr Nathaniel Cary, a consultant forensic pathologist, gave evidence to the court during the trial, presenting his findings from the postmortem report. Cary said Sara sustained at least 71 external injuries before she was killed. According to the police, she sustained at least 100 internal and external injuries.
These included wounds and bruises, a probable result of “repetitive blunt trauma” and “blunt impact or solid pressure, or both”, Cary said.
Signs of ulceration were also found on Sara’s body, which Cary speculated were caused by burning. The police also said they found boiling water burns on Sara’s feet, alongside bite marks.
The postmortem report also found that Sara had suffered at least 25 fractures and a traumatic brain injury.
The court heard that Sara had endured physical abuse for more than two years.
Sara was pulled out of St Mary’s Primary School in Woking twice, once in June 2022 and then again in April 2023, to be homeschooled. Prosecutors said Sara was required to wear the hijab from January 2023 most likely to cover her injuries.
Sara’s friend, referred to only as “Ava”, told Sky News in a video broadcast on Wednesday that in April 2023, Sara had arrived at school covered in bruises. “She told me she fell off her bike but I just knew,” Ava said.
While searching the Sharif family home in August 2023, the police found a cricket bat with Sara’s blood on it and plastic bag hoods the right size to place over her head. Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC said that a metal pole, a belt and a rope were also found near the family’s outhouse.
Text messages that Batool had sent her sister from May 2021 were also shown in court. “Urfan beat the crap out of Sara. She’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black,” one of the messages read.
“I feel really sorry for Sara, poor girl can’t walk. I really want to report him.” However, Batool never did report the abuse to authorities.
September 13, 2023: Sharif, Batool and Malik are arrested
The three adults in Sara’s household hid in Pakistan at relatives’ houses in the northern cities of Sialkot and Jhelum, the BBC has reported.
Pakistani police, alerted by Interpol, launched a high-profile search across the country to locate them. Following a successful raid on the home of Sharif’s father in Jhelum on September 9, 2023, the police extracted all five of the other children. A court ordered that the children be placed in a children’s home in Pakistan, the BBC reported. Sharif and Batool were not present in the house at the time of the raid.
Sharif, Batool and Malik returned voluntarily to the UK on September 13. Seven minutes after their plane touched down, police officers boarded the aircraft and arrested them from their first-class seats on their plane at Gatwick Airport.
Separate police interview videos of Sharif, Batool and Malik – taken on September 14, 2023 and released on Wednesday this week – show the three tight-lipped when asked about Sara’s death and giving a response of “no comment” to most questions.
On September 15, 2023, the three were charged by police with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child, and were remanded in custody until trial.
December 14, 2023: Sharif, Batool and Malik plead ‘not guilty’
All three pleaded not guilty to murder or causing or allowing Sara’s death.
November 13, 2024: Sharif accepts responsibility for Sara’s death
The trial began on October 7, 2024.
Sharif had initially denied that he played a part in Sara’s death, going back on the confessions made during the phone call and in the note he left next to her body.
Earlier in the trial, he said he had taken responsibility to protect his family and blamed Batool for Sara’s death, claiming he was working when the abuse took place. He alleged that it was Batool’s plan to flee to Pakistan, and that Batool had dictated his confession note. Batool and Malik did not give evidence during the trial.
However, on November 13, Sharif finally took responsibility for his daughter’s murder, telling jurors: “I accept every single thing.” Specifically, Sharif accepted that he had caused Sara’s injuries and fractures besides the bite and burn marks. He also accepted that he beat his daughter with a cricket bat.
“I did not want to hurt her. I didn’t want to harm her,” he said.
Who is Sara Sharif’s mother?
Sara’s biological mother is Olga Domin, 38. She is originally from Poland and returned there shortly after Sara’s death, having lived in the UK for more than 10 years.
The UK’s Daily Mail newspaper has reported that Sara is now buried in Poland, close to where her mother lives.
After Sharif came to the UK from Pakistan on a student visa in 2003, Domin and Sharif married in 2009. They split in 2015 after each accused the other of abuse during a court battle for residency of their daughter, Sara. Ultimately, Sharif won residency in 2019.
During the trial, the court heard that two other Polish women besides Sara’s mother had also reported Sharif to the police for physical abuse. According to UK media, one of these women reported him in 2007.
When Sharif, Batool and Malik were arrested, the Surrey Police released an update saying Domin had been informed and was being supported by specialist officers.
According to the Surrey Police website, Domin paid tribute to her daughter, saying: “My dear Sara, I ask God to please take care of my little girl, she was taken too soon.
“Sara had beautiful brown eyes and an angelic voice. Sara’s smile could brighten up the darkest room.
“Everyone who knew Sara will know her unique character, her beautiful smile and loud laugh.
“She will always be in our hearts, her laughter will bring warmth to our lives. We miss Sara very much. Love you, Princess.”
Did anyone ever report signs that Sara was being abused?
Yes.
On several occasions during the months before she was withdrawn from school, Sara’s schoolteachers raised concerns about bruises on her body with Surrey County Council’s social services. An investigation was opened but closed after six days after the council received information that Sara’s parents had taken her out of school altogether.
Sharif and Batool were reported to either social services or Sara’s school’s child protection online monitoring system on several other occasions, but those reports did not lead to any further investigation.
Children’s Commissioner for England Rachel de Souza told the BBC that Batool and Sharif should never have been allowed to homeschool Sara if teachers had noticed potential signs of abuse. “If a child is [the] suspected [victim] of abuse, they cannot be educated at home,” she said.
She added that the government is currently planning a Children’s Wellbeing Bill that will introduce a register of all homeschooled children. Such a register does not currently exist. The commissioner said an exemption in assault laws allowing for the “reasonable chastisement” of children should also be removed.
What will happen next?
Sharif, Batool and Malik will be sentenced on December 17 at the Old Bailey in London.
As Justice John Cavanagh adjourned sentencing this week, he told jurors the case had been “extremely stressful and traumatic”.
“Seeing the footage of Sara laughing and joking even when she had signs of injuries to her body and knowing what a happy child she was at school – she loved singing and dancing – and knowing what happened to her, those are the most affecting parts of the case,” said Libby Clark, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service.
The BBC reported on Wednesday that all five of Sara’s siblings who travelled to Pakistan with the family remain in Pakistan. Pakistani media reported that three of the children were those of Batool.
